Five things to know about Monterey Auto Week

By: Rob Sass

Serious money will change hands.
If the stars align properly, the total sales from the six auctions taking place on the Monterey peninsula could approach £300,000,000. That’s more than the GDP of The Cook Islands, The Falkland Islands and Anguilla combined.

World records will be shattered.
The most expensive car sold at a public auction was a 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 Grand Prix car that sold Bonhams’ Goodwood sale in July 2013 for £19,601,500. The Ferrari 250 GTO on offer at Bonhams in California could sell for between £30,000,000 and £40,000,000.

There’s always intrigue.
Whenever wealth and ego of this magnitude intersect, there’s always the possibility of intrigue. Everything from rampant speculation about bidder’s identities to cars suddenly disappearing from auction lineups without explanation — as was the case with a Porsche 917K racer once used by Steve McQueen. Gooding & Company quietly withdrew the heavily publicized car from its sale.

The events continue to multiply.
In the beginning, there was just the famed Pebble Beach Concours d’ Elegance. But vintage races, auctions, seminars, fashion shows, Italian car shows, German car shows, tours, rallies and memorabilia sales have all sprung up around the weekend of the concours, making the Pebble Beach extended weekend full to the brim.

The best of Britain will be well represented.
British cars have a big presence in the U.S. During the lean ‘export or die’ years in immediate post-war Britain, the factories of BMC, Standard-Triumph, Rootes and Jaguar were sending as much as 80 percent of their sports car production to America. Consequently, Americans have always loved the cars of the mother country. Some of the heavyweights? Gooding & Company has a 1995 McLaren F1 and a 1962 AC Cobra. RM has a 1951 Bentley R Type, a 1937 Jaguar SS100 Ford GT40 prototype, a 1962 Aston Martin DB4 drophead and a 1931 8-litre Bentley sports coupe cabriolet.